PwC Asks for Dismissal of Met Suit

PriceWaterhouseCoopers has requested the dismissal of a mult-million-dollar claim filed following the bankruptcy of Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities.

Met Mortgage's new management has said that PwC was negligent in performing audits of the company and that the auditor helped Metropolitan mask losses. About 16,600 investors were owed a total of $470 million in notes when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2004. Thousands more investors are owed more than $130 million in preferred stocks. Metropolitan has accused PwC of professional negligence, negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract.

PwC has said that its work auditing Metropolitan's books was based upon numbers and reports from the company's former chairman and chief executive, C. Paul Sandifur Jr., and that it can't be blamed for auditing numbers provided by Metropolitan management.PwC audited Metropolitan and its group of related companies in 1999 and 2000. The first hearing on the case is scheduled for Dec. 13.